All that nu media power must have gone to the head of Labour’s Twitter Czar, Kerry McCarthy, as she now things that Twitter is more important than the countries most read daily newspaper.

Is the word delusional too strong?

The Sun drops its support for Labour after 12 years – and will back David Cameron at the next election.

While the paper has tacitly backed David Cameron’s Conservatives since he became leader, their decision to dump the Labour party so early is a huge development.

The move by Rupert murdoch’s most influential British newspaper to splash with the headline “Labour’s Lost It,” will seriously dent the moral of Labour and it’s supporters. The paper goes on to say “After 12 long year’s in power Labour has lost its way, now its lost us too.”

Explaining why the paper decided to ditch Labour, the Sun’s political editor told Sky News: “What matters to us is who has got the dynamism, the energy, the drive.”

The paper likes to back the winner, and while its influence over elections results is often over played, it does show that the broad coalition that Tony Blair put together in the mid-90’s has fallen apart.

YouGov’s president, Peter Kellner, told Sky News that the paper is good at judging the political direction the country is going:

“Although the Sun newspaper is a great weather vane, it doesn’t decide the direction of the wind,” he said.

However, he said: “The Sun newspaper is a campaigning newspaper and it will be a thorn in Labour’s side from now on.

Better hide those Nokia phones in Brown’s Bunker

So what were the most used words in Gordon Brown’s conference speech?

Word cloud created with thanks to Wordle.

In a bit to get some good headlines Gordon Brown said that Labour’s manifesto for the next election will include the promise of a referendum on the total abolishment of hereditary peers from the House of Lords. He also commitment thegovernment to hold a referendum on changing to the “Alternative Vote” system for Westminster, early in the first parliament.

So you can understand why I’m taking these pledges with a grain of salt after reading this from Labour’s 1997 manifesto:

“We are committed to a referendum on the voting system for the House of Commons. An independent commission on voting systems will be appointed early to recommend a proportional alternative to the first-past-the-post system.”

After 12 years in power, you would have thought the Labour party would have had time to introduce policies that they pledged in their first election manifesto. It also makes you question their commitement to doing it the fourth time around.

One would have thought that the former Chancellor of the Exchequer would be good at remembering numbers, but alas Gordon Brown seems to have problems in this department.

While giving his leaders speech to the party faithfully, he told the assembled masses that 200,000 mortgage holders have been helped since the financial crisis hit.

During his speech to the TUC he told them that 300,000 people has been helped, saying:

“And by changing the way the courts deal with repossessions and by guaranteeing help to homeowners in difficulty, we have helped 300,000 families with advice with their mortgages and have helped thousands to stay in the homes they’ve worked so hard for and were in fear of losing.”

So which is it Mr Brown, which is it.

Chris Grayling has written to Alan Johnson demanding an explanation of the Borders Agencies handling of its probe into Baroness Scotland. Clearly the agency have a jot of questions to answer, not least surrounding the documentation used by Lolo to secure the job with the Baroness.

As Guido reported yesterday, the passport that was found by the agency when they raided the flat of Baroness Scotland’s cleaner had expired – meaning that she could not have used it to get the job.

“What does this mean? It means that so far no evidence has been uncovered to support Patricia Scotland’s claim that she saw a valid passport – obviously if the passport existed and she had taken a copy of it she would have been in the clear. Noticeably in the earliest comments briefed to the press there was no mention of a passport, “She hired Ms Tapui in good faith and saw documents which led her to believe that Ms Tapui was entitled to work in this country”. Later in the week when investigators from the UKBA interviewed the Attorney General informally, not under caution, she claimed to have seen a passport. That is her line with the press now.”

There is also question surround the speed of their investigation, and the conclusions they came to. Yes they were under considerable political pressure to deal with the case quickly, but this should not have stopped them conducting as thorough investigation of all parties involved.

In his letter, the Sadow Home Secretary said:

“The more we hear about what happened last week the clearer it becomes that this was an investigation rushed through under fierce political pressure and it has failed to do the job properly.

“The borders agency could not have possibly been in a position to mount a full investigation without interviewing Baroness Scotland’s housekeeper. It looks very likely that all of this was rushed through to avoid disrupting the Labour Party conference.”

Brent councillor Francis Eniola has just annouced that he has Left the Lbour party and joined the Conservatives, blaming Labour’s “complacent” for its traditional supporters.

“I have today resigned from the Labour Party after 15 years of loyal service and nearly four years as a Labour councillor”.

“I have not taken this decision lightly but only after three years of agonising over the failure of the leadership of the Labour Party to listen and reflect the genuine views, needs and aspirations of the residents of Welsh Harp [his ward]. The Labour Party has taken a complacent attitude to its supporters for too long and Labour has been unwilling to change to properly represent local people”

Of course this is yet another coup for the Conservatives, and I suspect that this will not be the last defection we will see before the General Election. Mr Eniola concerns that the Labour leadership is taking a “complacent attitude to its supporters” will only be heightened as we get closer and closer to polling day.

Responding to the defection, Eric Pickles said Gordon Brown’s fight back has failed and that people are continuing to desert the party:

“It seems like Gordon’s great fightback has already crumbled at its first hurdle. People are deserting Labour in droves as they realise the only real way of achieving change for the country is through a Conservative government.”

Hat tip Paul Waugh

In interview after interview andrew Marr has given Labour ministers and easy ride. On many occasions he’s failed to pin them down to an answer or just not follow-up on what he is told, but his interview this morning with the PM was anything but soft.

Following all the rumours that have been circulating about his use of anti-depressants, in what I think is an unprecedented move, Marr asked directly whether he is on “prescription drugs such as painkillers” to counter depression. Covered in sweat and clearly furious Brown replied “no”, before going on to talk about his eye sight.

The PMs health is a legitimate matter for concern, and unlike America, which has a rich tradition of seeking reassurances from their leaders that they are healthy enough to govern, health questions have always been ‘off limits’ for British journalist.

Because we do not have such a tradition, the risk any British journalist runs in asking such questions can be high, ultimatly they can lose the access they need. And following today’s questioning I’m betting Marr wont be getting an interview with Brown for some time.

But in asking the question Marr proved something. As Iain Dale puts it, it proves that he “has some big, fat, hairy ones.”

Video to follow soon.

Sue Nye is not a household name to the vast majority of people, in fact unless you are well versed in the world of politics, chances are you’ve never even heard of her. But having spent over a decade at Gordon Brown’s side, she’s quietly risen through the ranks to become his head of government relations and gatekeeper. Becoming a member of Brown’s inner circle and in doing so his closes advisor – second only to his wife.

So the news that such a trusted member of the Prime Minister’s staff has taken the decision to leave Downing Street will further question Brown’s ability to lead.

Not only is Ms Nye a trusted advisor, she was also poised to play a pinnacle role in Labour’s re-election campaign, a campaign that is struggling to find the talent required to make it a successful operation.

So why has such a high level Downing Street staffer jumped ship? Well the rumour is that Ms Nye, who has been with Brown through think and thin, is angry at the promotion of Kirsty McNeill. Until recently McNeill was a unheard of speechwriter, that was until Brown decided to promote her to the to the powerful position of advisor on external affairs.

When the news of the promotion broke source inside Number 10 said:

“No one wants to work for Gordon either because they think defeat is a foregone conclusion, they have no faith in him or theyjust don’t like his ranting, we are having to scrape the barrel.”

So its no surprise that Ms Nye needs “some distance” and a “change of scenery” from the tension of Downing Street’s War Room.

While the vast majority of people wont really care about this, it is indicative of just how bad things are for Brown – even within his bunker, and yet another distraction that he didn’t want during the Labour’s conference.

Tomorrow will see the start of Labour’s annual love-in in Brighton. Nearly all commentators agree that this will be Gordon Brown’s last party conference as leader, and that speeches will be made to a half empty hall as people can’t be bothered attending. According to the FT Labour’s main fund-raising event at the conference is also going to be a washout:

“Labour has sold a mere 330 tickets for its conference dinner in Brighton next week, in spite of booking a venue with the capacity for 800 paying guests. The low attendance – which compares with 400 last year and 680 in 2002 – comes amid sinking morale within the party. The annual conference dinner serves as a significant fundraiser, with tickets for the event on Tuesday night selling at £500 each. But one lobbyist told the Financial Times. “Our clients certainly don’t want to pay £500 a head for Labour’s last supper.” According to several Labour MPs there is likely to be widespread “absenteeism” at the five-day conference, with many colleagues not bothering to attend the event at all.”

If this was not bad enough coming off the back of another dire poll for Labour, John Prescott has given a damming interview to Michael Savage in the Independent, lashing out and attacking almost everyone and everything within his party.

Speaking to Savage, the former Deputy prime minister said the party is now lacking direction from the top and that the Government had no clear campaign strategy for winning the election.

“There is no direction in campaigning – we are drifting,” he said. “You ask yourself, why did we get in the Gurkhas situation? That would never have happened before. So there’s a feeling in the party that, somehow, we’re not getting a grip on it. There is something lacking.”

The trouble Gordon Brown’s had recruiting people to his re-election team has been well reported, with those advisors who propelled Labour to three successive victories refusing to come to the aid of Brown.

In response to an onslaught of bad headlines this morning, Labour has unleashed one of its most effective attack dogs, the Education Secretary Edd Balls.

In an interview with the Guardian, Ball’s tries to sent out the message that, Labour needs to rediscover its fighting spirit. But even here Ball’s can’t help take a minor swipe at his boss, saying Brown should spend less time commenting on popular television shows.

“Of course it is really important that Gordon is a family man and he has his time off, but they [the public] want to know that the prime minister is being prime ministerial.”

Brown is looking defeat in the face, his Cabinet are starting to go on manoeuvres in anticipation of the leadership contest, and those who don’t have any eye on the top job are how fighting to hold onto their seats and not trying to hold onto government.

The speed and effectiveness in which Gordon Brown has destroyed the Labour party is nothing other than amazing. In the space of just two year’s he’s turned the party from an election winning machine, that devoured the opposition parties for breakfast, into a shivering wreck of a party that’s now whimpering in the corner.

There are only two questions now that matter now – how bad is labour’s defeat going to be, and how long is it going to take the party to recover. If recent political history teachers anything, it teaches us that once a party is demolished in the polls it takes a generation for it to recover.